Lancet Commission: People Centred Care for UHC
The Lancet Global Health Commission on People-Centred Care for Universal Health Coverage (UHC) convenes from 2024 to 2027 under Harvard Medical School coordination. Its mission is to translate the ideal of people-centred care into actionable policies across diverse contexts. The Commission aims to define, measure and enable care systems that truly place people (not just diseases) at the heart of care delivery and health system governance. Dr Luke Allen co-chairs the people-centred outcomes working group, focused on mapping and synthesising evidence linking people-centred care to clinical, financial, and experiential outcomes.
The Problem
Despite widespread rhetorical commitment to people-centred care, evidence remains fragmented and uneven. Many health systems continue to operate on paternalistic or disease-centric models, neglecting patients’ lived experiences, preferences, social determinants, and power dynamics. Without strong empirical clarity on how person-centred or people-centred approaches influence outcomes, and under what conditions, the concept often remains aspirational. This gap undermines efforts to align health systems more closely with the values of UHC, and risks perpetuating inequities in patient experience, clinical quality, and financial protection.
Approach
Members of our team are co-leading rigorous evidence synthesis to examine the associations between people-centred care models and three domains of outcomes: clinical (e.g. health status, adherence, safety), financial (e.g. out-of-pocket costs, catastrophic expenditure), and patient experience (e.g. satisfaction, trust, empowerment). Our approach emphasises participatory methods, engaging those with lived experience to validate constructs, refine measures, and guide interpretation. The work will feed into the Commission’s broader comparative, policy, and implementation streams.
Impact
By producing a transparent, rigorous evidence base on the outcomes of people-centred care, this work will help transform a normative ideal into a practicable tool. Policymakers, funders, and implementers will gain clarity on which people-centred strategies deliver value (and under what constraints), enabling smarter investment, accountability, and scaling. Over time, the goal is that health systems will be evaluated not only by disease metrics, but by whether they deliver care that is respectful, responsive, equitable and aligned with people’s lives — ultimately strengthening the legitimacy and effectiveness of UHC.
